Sebastian Vettel wants Pirelli to change tyre 'recipe'

Current triple world champion Sebastian Vettel has called on Formula 1 to rethink what he describes as the current "recipe" of high degrading tyres.

There has much debate about Pirelli's 2013 tyres which have brought a much different challenge for the teams compared to the 2012 compounds.

This season has been much more about conserving the tyres which have a much shorter lifespan than their 2012 predecessors and that has led to high criticism from some teams, notably Mercedes and Red Bull, but has also been given backing, by Lotus, Ferrari and now the FIA.

After the last race in Spain, on a circuit known for the high wear rates of the tyres, the criticism grew louder as the two hardest compounds still could not prevent a four-stop-strategy being the fastest way for most of the teams.

Pirelli revealed they would be making changes from the Canadian Grand Prix however the FIA stepped in saying only changes could be made that improved safety. As a result those planned alterations have been scaled back by the Italian manufacturer.

This week Pirelli gained important backing from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone as the 82-year-old insisted Pirelli were only doing what they were asked.

"I asked Pirelli to make tyres that would not complete 50 per cent of a race -- meaning we need pit stops," he told F1's official website this week.

"And that's what they did."

Ecclestone did admit however, that Pirelli's job was "very, very difficult" given the different challenges of the 19 tracks Formula 1 visits and also the different weather conditions and different driving styles.

This weekend Formula 1 makes the annual trip to the Cote d’Azur for the famous Monaco Grand Prix on the streets of Monte Carlo. Tyres are expected to be much less of a factor despite Pirelli bringing the soft and super-soft compounds to cope with the low grip, slow nature of the circuit.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's race Vettel spoke about the on-going tyre debate and, for once, disagreed with his friend Ecclestone's comments.

"It is not just about considering changing one ingredient in the recipe," the German told Kicker magazine. "It's more about the recipe itself."

Despite his teams own criticism of Pirelli's tyres this year, Mercedes Director Toto Wolff doesn't expect to much to change and believes Pirelli are "too professional" to allow team's comments to affect their work.

"This is Formula One," Wolff told the Austrian news agency APA. "Everybody looks only for his own advantage, which is normal.

"Niki Lauda has said that it should be that the fastest wins, which is not us playing the game for ourselves, but for the fans.

"The rules however don't allow major changes during the season, so putting further pressure or lobbying Pirelli has no meaning.

"I think in the end Pirelli will not change so much during the season that a team will be advantaged or disadvantaged very much.

"Pirelli are too professional for that. We just have to learn to deal with the situation and these tyres," he added.

Wolff did think some safety changes would be made after the tread failures seen at the previous two races, however Pirelli's Head of Motorsport Paul Hembery said those failures did not mean the current tyres were unsafe.

"It's important to point out that these delaminations, which occur when the tread comes off, do not compromise the safety of the tyres as the core structure of the tyre is not affected in any way," he said.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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